Darkfall: New Dawn

General => General Discussion => Topic started by: kherny on October 13, 2015, 12:27:50 am

Title: You really really had me guys until I read...
Post by: kherny on October 13, 2015, 12:27:50 am

"Bunny hopping is one of the wonderful emergent gameplay that occurred in DFO and is here to stay."

I can honestly say, as a player without an mmo to call home for the past few years who is just waiting for something to fill the void and as a player who would be more than happy to subscribe to the vision you guys have outlined on your site, there is not a cats chance in hell of me ever playing New Dawn with bunnyhopping involved...

I played the original Darkfall. Loved it. I came to the party late and missed out on a lot of the fun but what I did experience was fantastic. A whole world that I loved to explore with the unbeatable feeling only open world pvp can provide. Races that actually looked different with the unrealised potential of racial wars. Crafting. Actually having to have no external noise so I could listen to the environment for nearby players. It was utterly refreshing and the reason I stopped was the bunnyhopping. Being jumped in PVE? No problem. I love it in fact. Surviving the gank attempt by a superior (time played) player and getting on my mount with my pursuer chasing? Electrifying. Seeing my pursuer dismount and then proceed to bunnyhop at ridiculous speeds to close the distance on me while I am mounted? Soul destroying... in the same way any cheat gets on over on you. It just feels like a bug is being used to gain an advantage because thats just what it is. In the same way any cheating pretty much cools me off of any multiplayer game (far too many to mention but recently the severe drop in h1z1 players comes to mind)

If you want to implement an ability like this in the game make it into an ability and put it on the bar. (toggleable) Dont reward the few. I know anyone could potentially take advantage of this bug but I have no intention of doing so for the same reason I dont cheat in any online games. Where is the satisfaction? It is either a documented ingame ability or its not. I would have no problem being beaten by any player with better gear, stats or just outright outplaying me but the moment someone uses an advantage which is borderline cheating.. its over.. or even worse if that borderline cheating ability is openly accepted by turning a blind eye to it... bookmarks removed, uninstalled and move on.

I really really hope that bunnyhopping is not a part of the game you go on to develop. I know its extremely early in the scheme of things and ideas and designs and direction change rapidly and if it is I would just like to wish you the best of luck as this amazing game deserves to live on. Just not with me in it.

Thanks for listening. I am just hastily throwing my thoughts into the pot. Hopefully in a legible manner.

Kherny.

Title: Re: You really really had me guys until I read...
Post by: Ub3rgames on October 13, 2015, 03:38:14 am

Thank you for your time and feedback.

Hear us out on our reasoning behind the statement you quoted:Bunnyhopping was caused by a bug, but it created some interesting in fight mechanics that improved the game by accident.However it caused issues out of fight and was clunky and counter intuitive at best. We are aware of that and will address the flaws.

Our plan is to first fix the bug, then reintroduce bunny hopping as a balanced feature that does not require such a high barrier of entry.

First, we're increasing the risks for using that technique. We'll be controling its range by introducing more fall damage on consecutive jumps, make damage spill through to stamina once hp is at 1 and we'll kill a character once its stamina is at 0.This should remove bunny hopping for out of fights uses but it will keep it as a high risk positioning tool. In essence, making it add depth to the game rather than remove from it.

We're also nerfing bunny hopping by buffing everything else around it. We will buff mounts, both on roads and out of roads. We'll also try to create a "cavalry" role through a rider title. We're making water combat extremely undesirable to buff ships and make swimmer attacks more difficult.We'll also add non magic positioning tools(parkour, grapling hooks, etc) and counters to a bunny hopper: instant shot crossbows for example or special kind of "snaring" arrows for bows.Magic already had dots and reducing the stamina left after bunny hoping also handicaps recovery a lot. Darkfall's combat was focused on maintaining resources (hp, stam, mana) and stam was a source of healing almost as much as mana.

It is important to embrace emergent gameplay. Bunny hopping is fun, it just needs to be taken into account in the overall game design. If it is part of a set of viable alternative rather than being the optimal choice, it will add depth to the game.

We hope you understand where we are coming from on this and that you will give the game a shot.